How to Get Your Sales and Marketing Alignment for Midsized Business – Right
Learn How to Get Sales and Marketing Alignment for Midsized Business – On Target.
Many companies struggle with poor sales and marketing alignment, so you are not alone.
This can be a major obstacle to success, leading to miscommunication and a lack of cooperation between the two divisions.
This article will explore sales and marketing alignment, why it is important, and how to achieve it. We will also look at some tips for maintaining alignment for sales and marketing and the consequences of not having a good alignment. Stay tuned!
You’re a salesperson who wants to know how marketing can help you. You’ve heard that they do some things, but you’re not sure what the role of marketers is in your company.
Your job as a salesperson is difficult enough without worrying about how marketing affects prospects’ decisions.
Working together, these two divisions can better stay in sync, share information quickly, identify trends earlier and ultimately drive revenue for the company.
To get started with sales and marketing alignment, take this quiz!
Do you want to know how to get sales and marketing alignment right in your business?
Many companies struggle with poor sales and marketing alignment. This can be a major obstacle to success, leading to miscommunication and a lack of cooperation between the two divisions.
This article will explore sales and marketing alignment, why it is important, and how to achieve it.
We will also look at some tips for maintaining alignment and the consequences of not having a good alignment.
You can learn everything you need to know about getting sales and marketing aligned in your business. This information will help you avoid common pitfalls and ensure that both teams work towards the same goal.
By reading this article and following our tips, you’ll be able to improve sales and marketing alignment in your company and increase overall revenue.
What is sales and marketing alignment?
Sales and marketing alignment is when there is a consistent flow of information between the two divisions to work closely together to achieve the company’s goals.
This means that salespeople should be aware of the marketing message and its effect on prospects, while marketers should be aware of customers’ needs to tailor their messaging to suit them.
Working together, these two divisions can better stay in sync, share information quickly, identify trends earlier and ultimately drive revenue for the company.
Benefits of Sales and Marketing Alignment:
- Increased Revenue: When sales and marketing teams work together, they can increase the number of qualified leads and thus increase revenue. This is because both divisions can identify new prospects before becoming competitors and capture more business from existing customers by cross-selling additional products or upselling more expensive items.
- Improved Morale: Another benefit of sales and marketing alignment is improved morale. This happens when employees feel appreciated for their roles in the company, leading them to be more productive in whatever tasks they perform to achieve success.
Benefits of alignment for Sales
When sales and marketing teams work together, they can increase the number of qualified leads and thus increase revenue.
This is because both divisions can identify new prospects before becoming competitors and capture more business from existing customers by cross-selling additional products or upselling more expensive items.
Another benefit of sales and marketing alignment is improved morale. This happens when employees feel appreciated for their roles in the company, leading them to be more productive in whatever tasks they perform to achieve success.
Benefits of alignment for Marketing
When marketing and sales teams are aligned, it benefits the company in several ways.
Improved understanding of customer needs: When marketing is aligned with sales, it better understands customer needs. This allows marketing to create targeted messages that resonate with customers, increasing the chances of conversion. In particular, marketing can benefit from the following advantages:
Increased leads: With a better understanding of customer needs, marketing can generate leads more likely to convert into customers. Additionally, marketing can funnel qualified leads directly to the sales team, saving them time and effort by working closely with sales.
Improved brand awareness: An aligned marketing team can better create campaigns that improve brand awareness and boost the company’s image among its customers. This, in turn, gives the company a more solid reputation that drives customer loyalty and results in repeat business.
The consequences of not having a good alignment between departments
If sales and marketing are not aligned, it can have several negative consequences.
In particular, the following can happen:
Confusion among employees: If sales and marketing are not aligned, it can confuse employees. This is because they will be unsure which department they should be getting their information from, leading to a breakdown in communication.
Lack of trust between departments: Another issue that can arise from a lack of alignment is a lack of trust between departments. This is because sales may think that marketing is not doing its job properly if leads are not being converted into customers, while marketing may feel that sales are not providing them with qualified leads.
Missed opportunities: Companies may miss out on opportunities to increase revenue when sales and marketing are not working in tandem. This is because employees will be unsure of which department they should be getting their information from, leading to a breakdown in communication.
A lack of communication can lead to missed opportunities, confusion among employees, and a lack of trust between departments.
How to Set up Sales and Marketing Alignment
To ensure that your sales and marketing teams are aligned with one another, take these steps:
Clarify Roles
The first step towards getting both divisions working together is establishing roles for each team so they know what they should be doing. How does each division contribute to selling or attracting new customers? How do these processes overlap? These questions help determine how closely aligned the two teams need to be.
Hold Meetings Regularly
Team meetings are essential for keeping everyone updated on progress and identifying any challenges that need to be overcome.
Use Data
Marketing and sales should always use data to identify their actions and effectiveness. This data can come from several sources, such as website analytics or social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. The more data teams collect, the easier it is to make informed decisions about future strategies.
Be transparent
Transparency within your organization is essential for good alignment. Each division should be made aware of what the other is doing to work together to achieve common goals. Transparency is crucial for ensuring that each division works towards the same objectives and effectively shares information.
Communicate regularly
One of the most important things you can do for sales and marketing alignment is to schedule regular meetings where representatives from both divisions are present.
These meetings should allow time for questions, feedback, updates about current activities, etc., which will help keep everyone involved up-to-date on everything that’s happening internally within your company.
Create a product roadmap
Every organization needs strategies to ensure future success; however, it’s sometimes challenging to figure out the best direction for your business. If you’re struggling with this, one solution is to create a product roadmap: outline many possible strategies and tactics for achieving success.
This will help your organization identify what it needs to do first and what can come later. It will also allow both divisions (sales and marketing) to work together towards common goals rather than competing priorities, leading to problems like miscommunication or conflict about which activities should be prioritized.
Know your audience
No matter how good your product or service is, if nobody knows about it, you won’t be able to sell it! Marketing helps attract prospects through advertising methods such as social media, search engine optimization, trade shows, e-mail campaigns, etc.
On the other hand, sales help convert them into customers by generating interest with phone calls and sending out quotes. As a result, both divisions need to be aware of the activities their counterparts are performing and not duplicate any of them (which would be a waste of resources) or neglect to perform ones they should.
Share information constantly
Sales and marketing alignment will only work correctly if the two divisions constantly share information at all levels within your organization, specifically by ensuring everyone is up-to-date on what’s happening in their department and across the board for all departments at all times.
By implementing this kind of constant communication between various employees, you’ll improve overall collaboration within your business, better identify opportunities, avoid problems, and create a company culture focused on working together.
Have leaders who are willing to coordinate
An effective strategy is great; however, it will only work if you have the appropriate people involved. Therefore, when it comes to sales and marketing alignment, you need someone who can bridge the gap between both divisions so they don’t find themselves competing or duplicating efforts unnecessarily.
An ideal candidate would be someone with enough authority to impose guidelines for how each division should act (i.e., members of upper management) yet enough personality that they can get employees from both sides to cooperate without too much hassle.
Next, Link Your Marketing Automation System to Your CRM System
One of the most important things you can do to improve your marketing is to link your marketing automation system to your CRM system.
Doing this will allow you to track all your leads in one place and ensure that they are followed up promptly. It will also help you identify any potential problems with your marketing campaigns and fix them quickly.
Track the Sales and Marketing metrics that matter
Sales metrics:
- Number of closed deals
- Average deal size
- Conversion rate
- % Of leads qualified for the trial period (tied very closely with conversion)
- % of trial periods converted to customers (sometimes this number is higher than the conversion rate but less likely)
Marketing metrics:
There are several key marketing metrics that you should track to measure the success of your marketing campaigns.
These include the number of closed deals, the average deal size, the conversion rate, the percentage of leads who qualify for a trial period, and the percentage of trial periods that convert to customers.
Tracking these metrics will help you quickly identify any potential marketing problems and fix them.
Conclusion
The importance of marketing alignment can’t be overstated. When sales and marketing work together, they can share information more readily, identify trends earlier, and ultimately drive revenue for the company.
One way to do this is by linking your CRM system with your marketing automation platform to have all data in one place.
Another thing that will help improve results is tracking the relevant metrics like the number of closed deals, conversion rates (and qualified leads), average deal sizes, etc. We’ve highlighted the above for you! Which metric’s most important to you?
Let us know by email or phone at +1-303-351-1645 if it would be easier for you to talk about them instead.
How Matrix Marketing Group can help with sales and marketing alignment
Matrix Marketing Group is a company that can help you to improve the alignment between sales and marketing. Each company has sales and marketing alignment challenges. What are yours?
They have extensive experience in both areas and can help you track the relevant metrics to identify any potential problems early on. They can also help you create campaigns that are more likely to be successful.
General FAQs
What is marketing automation?
Marketing automation automates tasks such as email marketing, social media marketing, and targeted advertising. It can also be used to automate lead scoring and lead nurturing processes. This helps to free up time for marketers to focus on other tasks.
How can marketing automation help with sales and marketing alignment?
Marketing automation can help with sales and marketing alignment by automating email marketing, social media marketing, and targeted advertising. This can free up time for marketers to focus on other tasks. Matrix Marketing Group is a company that can help you to improve the alignment between sales and marketing.
What is CRM?
CRM stands for customer relationship management, a tool businesses use to manage their interactions with customers. It helps to keep track of customer data, communications, and deals. Additionally, CRM can help businesses automate tasks such as email marketing and targeted advertising.
How can marketing automation help with sales and marketing alignment?
The importance of marketing alignment can’t be overstated. When sales and marketing work together, they can share information more readily, identify trends earlier, and ultimately drive revenue for the company. One way to do this is by linking your CRM system with your marketing automation platform to have all data in one place. Another thing that will help improve results is tracking the relevant metrics like the number of closed deals, conversion rates (and qualified leads), average deal sizes, etc.
